In Brazil, over the last seven years, elementary education for children, youths and adult has become a municipality oriented policy. This is a result of programs and plans developed by the Federal Government, which has adopted decentralization as one of its main strategies for education. Although it is well known that these measures have contributed to increase enrollments at these levels, this article tackles the problem of their very limited effect to guarantee quality in the schooling processes. It highlights the main characteristics that have guided the State's actions, especially as for the shift from bureaucratic administration to managerial organization. It is an attempt to demonstrate the implications that these transformations had on municipal education, based on the impact of survey results about the Federal Government Programs aimed at financing schooling actions in local spaces.